GREEK WARRIOR!
TSITSIPAS SLAYS KING FEDERER; SHARAPOVA ALSO EXITS OZ OPEN
Melbourne, Jan. 20: Defending champion Roger Federer was stunned by fiery Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas who ended his bid for a record seventh Australian Open on Sunday on a day of upsets that also saw second seed Angelique Kerber and Maria Shaparova crash out.
The Swiss master caved in under the energy and pressure of a man 17 years his junior as the Greek youngster won their fourth round match 6-7 (11/13), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) at Rod Laver Arena.
World number two Kerber was also sensationally bundled out by a woman playing the event for the first time, with American Danielle Collins humiliating the Wimbledon champion 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour.
The man Federer beat in last year’s final, sixth seed Marin Cilic, was also sent packing by Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, who now plays Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.
Five-time Grand Slam winner Shaparova and fifth seed Sloane Stephens were others to fall, but there was no such drama for a rampant Rafael Nadal who powered into the last eight with a straight sets win over Tomas Berdych.
Federer was gunning for a
21st Grand Slam title but had a battle on his hands from off against the 20year-old, touted among the new generation of young stars as a future champion. He is the first Greek in history to reach the quarterfinals of a Slam.
The Swiss great denied the defeat signalled a changing of the guard. “I’ve heard that story the last 10 years. From that standpoint, nothing new there,” he said.
Wimbledon winner and 2016 champion Kerber was no match for Collins, ranked 35 in the world.
Collins is little known after playing much of her tennis in the US college system and was making her debut in the main draw at Melbourne Park. She had never won a Grand Slam match before this year.
Her next assignment is against unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Stephens 6-7
(3/7), 6-3, 6-3 in a late night epic. Men’s second seed Nadal, returning from foot surgery, barrelled past former world number four Tomas Berdych 60, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) as he stays on track for an 18th Grand Slam title.
He will play world number 39 Frances Tiafoe for a place in the semifinals after the young American celebrated his 21st birthday by grinding down Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 67 (1/7), 7-5. Hometown hero Ashleigh Barty also made the last eight after muscling past Sharapova and will next meet Petra Kvitova.
Sharapova claimed her biggest scalp since completing a drugs ban in 2017 when she rolled Wozniacki in round three and looked on track to carry the momentum forward.
The 30th seed won the first set but then fell to pieces, eventually succumbing 6-4, 1-6, 4-6.
Next up for the diminutive 22year-old is Kvitova, who beat Barty in the final of the warmup Sydney International this month. The two-time Wimbledon champion beat 17year-old Amanda Anisimova 62, 6-1 to match her best performance at a major since being slashed in a terrifying attack at her home in late 2016 that left her with lasting nerve damage in her fingers. —